Chile

Chile

The Human Rights and Business Country Guide to Chile was produced by the National Human Rights Institution of Chile in collaboration with the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR).

The Country Guide is a compilation of publicly available information from international institutions, local civil society, governmental agencies, businesses, media and universities, among others. International and domestic sources are identified on the basis of their expertise and relevance to the Chilean context, as well as their timeliness and impartiality.

The survey of publicly available sources was carried out between 2014 and 2016 and received strategic input from local stakeholders and experts. It aims to provide a comprehensive overview, on the basis of the information available, of the ways in which companies do or may impact human rights in Chile. The current Country Guide is not meant as an end product, or a final determination of country conditions. It is intended to be the basis, and the beginning, of a process of dissemination, uptake and modification.

Beyond being human rights guidance for business, this Country Guide provides key input for the elaboration of Chile’s National Action Plan on Human Rights and Business (NAP), which is one of several initiatives that have resulted from the Country Guide process in Chile. This guide provides a baseline assessment of business impacts in Chile, which help to inform the elaboration of the Action Plan to be launched in 2017.

In the process of developing and implementing the NAP, the Country Guide has been used to identify local recommendations for the government to consider in the elaboration of NAP, as will be used in various multi-stakeholders events with the aim of facilitating dialogue between different stakeholders and building capacities.

The Human Rights and Business Country Guide to Chile was produced with the support of Swedish International Development Aid.

15 Aug 2017 — On the occasion of the international Day of Indigenous Peoples, Aymara organizations sharing the border between Chile and Peru denounced (in Spanish) the loss of water sources due to mining concessions that would be impacting negatively the environment in this desert zone. Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Teck Resources and BHP Billiton to respond. Both responses are available. We also invited Minsur (part of Golder Associates) to respond. We will inform if they do.

15 Aug 2017 — Teck has no ownership whatsoever in the Pucamarca project, of Minsur S.A., in Peru, nor in any other country in which the company can operate. Thus, it ignores the activities pursued there and their operational conditions…Teck holds mining concessions in the Arica y Parinacota Region, in Chile, which are duly authorized by the competent authorities. In such concessions, Teck is carrying out early exploration activities, which consider mapping, sampling, and environmental information survey. These activities do not cause environmental effects and -at this stage – pursuant to Chilean environmental law, do not require the performance of an environmental evaluation…As part of its relations policy, Teck keeps dialogue with all communities, including the indigenous peoples of the territory, and is available to share any information the communities require on its activities.

15 Aug 2017 — 14 August 2017
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the concerns expressed in the document of 8 August 2017 entitled “Comunicado público -proyecto minero aurífero “Pucamarca” de la empresa minera Minsur- Perú,”…BHP has no association with the “Pucamarca” mine in Peru…In Chile, BHP has two operating copper assets in the regions of Antofagasta and Tarapacá and we have early stage exploration activities in many parts of the country. In the fifteenth region of Chile, we are currently exploring for copper and we have exploration tenements in the area mentioned in the document from community members…BHP respects the rights of Indigenous peoples and acknowledges their right to maintain their cultures, identities, traditions and customs. Our approach to engaging with Indigenous peoples is articulated in the BHP Indigenous Peoples Policy Statement, available at http://www.bhp.com/our-approach/operating-with-integrity/indigenous-peoples, in which we commit to the 2013 International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) Position Statement on Indigenous Peoples and Mining.